The following article is from my friend, Dan Turis, on the Catalyst website. Since I have known him, he has always focused on intentional discipleship. For more information on this method of discipleship, see Robert Coleman's Master Plan of Evangelism, and AB Bruce's The Training of the Twelve.
I have seen a trend in Christian education that attempts to provide pragmatic solutions at the cost of theology. I was sitting in a coffee shop across from a Christian college student and she said, “I don’t believe in theology.” When I pushed for more explanation, she said, “I don’t believe in theology, it is all wrong, I believe in Christ.” Her simple assumption about Jesus needed to be harvested. She liked the church she was going to because the pastor was giving steps on how to follow Jesus and “not theology.”
Let me put it in different terms. When a baseball pitcher is learning to throw a curveball they have a few options. A pitcher can read a book about throwing a curveball, they can attend a class on the methods of throwing a curveball, or the pitcher can have a coach show them how to throw a curveball from the pitcher’s mound.
In each scenario the theory is important. The pitcher can read the book and learn the physics of how the ball cuts the air to create a curve in midair. The coach can show videos of examples of how to best throw a curveball. However the theory described in the book or demonstrated from the classroom does not make the practical a reality. The pitcher can read such a book and start throwing, attempting to accomplish a curve ball, though the likelihood of success is very low. However if the pitcher had a coach watch him throw, the coach could adjust him with every pitch. With each throw the pitcher gets better and better.
The analogy in each scenario implements the theory found in a book or classroom. With each throw, the theory dictates the reality. Each scenario may produce a perfect curve ball but the best scenario is when the theory of the curveball and the coach work hand-in-hand. I do not see the coach at the pitcher’s mound in today’s church. The theory about the curve ball can be taught from a book and a classroom but it must be coached from the pitchers mound beside the pitcher to experience best results. This is where the theory and practical come together.
The student I mentioned earlier had a tough time dealing with the theology or the theory about God, so she dropped it all together. Her only problem was she was still acting upon theology. If she had someone walk with her day by day making sense of the theology that she disliked or did not understand she would have seen the importance of engaging God with her mind as much as she did her heart.
How often did Christ tell a parable or have a teaching and then make sense of the parable after the fact to those he discipled. I have to encourage the church to not give easy answers. Let the practical be made manifest in the one-on-one relationships in the church. It is through intentional personal discipleship, not how-to programs, that the difficult task of doing theology is fully made practical in a person’s life. The temptation is to give the how to’s from the lectern to try and teach people how to follow Christ. However Christ himself was relational in his application and teaching of theology. We as leaders must take up this model and focus on those who are close to us and do the same. We need to help others think and let good theology dictate their actions not simply hand them a how to book. We must help them engage mystery, discover theology, and think theologically on their own terms. For whatever reason we have abandoned the one-on-one nature of growth in our churches.
I am convinced that disciplemaking without program is not a romantic notion. That training leaders to disciple leaders is the process in which we make theology and thought about God alive, active, and practical. I cannot expect someone to respond with passion to a 24-week program that inspires faithfulness. I can however expect them to develop a deep passion for the risen savior and let their response of faithfulness come out of that passion. I am convinced that this brand of passion comes from a Biblical model of disciplemaking modeled in the relationship of Paul and Timothy - or more so - Jesus and his disciples. When Jesus says in Mark 8:27, “who do you say that I am” he was speaking in relational terms. Jesus was asking questions that depend upon Peter’s present relationship with him. That is precisely what we are to do, be right beside those we lead and keep pointing to Jesus making sense of who Jesus is.
